Tag: phablet

Motorola is rumoured to be working on two devices for Google which include an upgraded Nexus 5 and a phablet-like Nexus 6.

According to Nine to Five the Nexus 5 will extend the screen up to a 5.2in diagonal, but the Nexus 6 will arrive with a huge 5.92in display.

The handset, codenamed ‘Shamu’, will be based on the second generation Moto X, with a few minor tweaks to make it easier to use given the larger screen. The volume and power buttons would be moved further towards the centre of the side of the handset, but the overall design would remain the same. That means it will have an aluminium outer frame, curved rear and forward-facing speakers.

The 2,560×1,440 resolution display will have a pixel density of 498ppi. Under the bonnet is a 2.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

The rear-facing camera will reportedly use a 13-megapixel sensor and the ring flash first seen on the new Moto X. It should also use a 3,200mAh battery.

The new handset will run Android L, presumably in 64-bit mode.

It will be the first time Google has tried to release two smartphones simultaneously and the Tame Apple Press claims that it is just copying Apple’s move. After all Apple was the first to introduce phablets wasn’t it? A 5.92in screen would make the Nexus 6 one of the largest mainstream handsets around.

If you want to see how Apple’s control of the US trade press is distorting reviews and facts about its products you do not have to look much further than the reviews for the fruity cargo cult’s Fablet.

When Flablets first started appearing, Apple made a big thing about how bad they were, and the Tame Apple Press automatically rubbished them. Despite this they were a huge success, and Apple was forced to copy its rivals and produce one.

Has the Tame Apple Press stuck to its guns and said that Fablets are rubbish? Er no, they have just contradicted their previous views because Apple now tells them to say something different.

Tech Crunch’s Darrell Etherington wrote this week that “The additional size makes for a less ‘perfect’ ergonomic quality, something the iPhone 6 definitely achieves, but there’s still lots to love about the industrial design of the 6 Plus … For most tasks, I find the iPhone 6 Plus to be a two-handed device – but I also find that I’m absolutely fine with that.”

But this is the same magazine that wrote about the Galaxy Note: “Unfortunately, you might look a little crazy with that huge thing up to your face. I found that it was really difficult to get comfortable with the device, never feeling like I had complete control over it as I would with a smaller phone.”
What is the difference? Tech Crunch’s favourite company now makes Phablets so anything it said in the past is officially rubbish.

Josh Geller, from BGR, wrote this week that “Apple has finally taken the wraps off the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple fans are going crazy with anticipation over the largest iPhones ever released, something needs to be said. And that something is, “Thank you, Samsung.” We got it wrong.”

At least he admits he got it wrong, but what was Geller thinking when he wrote this: “The most useless device I’ve ever seen … This is a phone, after using it for a few hours, that feels like it is too big to be taken seriously. That’s the end of it. I don’t care if you like large screens on mobile devices, I don’t care if you love Android, and I don’t care if you love 4G LTE — this is a device fit for use only by such a small subset of the human population that I can’t fathom how AT&T and Samsung are putting so much marketing resources behind it.”

Lauren Goode at the Wall Street Journal admits that she is biased toward Apple and will say whatever the cargo cult put out is great.

“Maybe I’m getting old, and my eyes are getting worse. Or maybe I’m stuck in Apple’s reality-distortion field (help). But something strange happened this week. I started to like a phablet.”

This is the same writer who told us “It’s still too big for a smartphone … After testing it over the past week and a half, the awkwardness that came with carrying such a large, “notice me” phone outweighed the benefits of it, for me.”

The New York Times’ David Pogue was clearly trying to get back into Apple’s good books when he wrote “The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are absolutely terrific phones. They’re fast and powerful and well designed. There’s not a single component that hasn’t been improved. These phones are a delight to behold and to be held.”

This is the same numpty who said about the Samsung Phablet that its “sheer size basically makes one-handed operation impossible. Samsung’s given the Note 3 an entire settings menu dedicated to trying to make it easier to use one-handed, but even with my adult male-sized hands it’s a struggle to reach even half of the screen without dropping the device.”

For some reason his “adult hands” do not drop Apple devices, just those made by a rival.
While it is mostly Amercians journalists who are keen to sacrifice their credibility to butter up Apple, the UK’s Guardian is also keen to toady up to Jobs’ Mob.

However the Guardian has a strong view about other people making Phablets. Samuel Gibbs moaned that the sheer size of the device basically makes one-handed operation impossible. Samsung’s given the Note 3 an entire settings menu dedicated to trying to make it easier to use one-handed, but even with my adult male-sized hands it’s a struggle to reach even half of the screen without dropping the device.”

What a difference two years makes, and the fact that the outfit is your favourite toymaker.
It seems that the trade press has gone a long way since we had to send back bottles of whisky from suppliers at Christmas because they represented low-level bribery. Instead, it is clear that trade journalists are Apple’s glove puppets and no longer can be relied on to tell you the truth.